by Paul White, USA TODAY Sports

by Paul White, USA TODAY Sports

(Editor's note: USA TODAY Sports is publishing sketches of the top Hall of Fame candidates on this year's ballot. It is an intriguing group, ranging from players with first-ballot accomplishments marred by the cloud of performance-enhancing drugs to unsullied players nearing the end of their 15-year eligibility. The Baseball Writers' Association of America will announce Jan. 9 who, if anyone, accumulates the 75% of the vote necessary for induction.)

Name: Sammy Sosa

Position: Outfield

Career: 1989 to 2007; Rangers, White Sox, Cubs, Orioles

Year on ballot: First

Why he should be inducted: Because he hit 609 home runs. Because he has three 60-homer seasons, more than anyone else in history. Because he was an MVP and led the league in homers twice and in RBI twice. And because his home run battles with Mark McGwire energized a game still not back on firm footing with fans after the 1994-95 work stoppage.

For all the innuendo arising from the steroid era, the fans passing judgment now were the ones cheering then. Sosa entertained with the complete blessing and encouragement of the people who ran the game. And he outhit most of his peers.

And, don't you remember? Sosa showed us the Flintstones vitamins in his locker. Isn't that the only real evidence we have? Or need?

Why he shouldn't be inducted: Because Sosa shares with McGwire a career skewed by a short period of flash but not supported by long-term substance. Roughly half of his home runs, RBI and total bases came in a five-year period (1998-2002). That leaves 13 seasons in which he batted .256 and averaged 24 homers and 74 RBI.

And we haven't even gotten to Sosa's command performance in front of Congress, where what he claimed to have forgotten ranks right up there with how easily Hall of Fame voters should choose to not recall a career that often bordered on cartoonish.

Oh, and did we mention that little incident with the corked bat?

Numbers don't lie: Sosa's 425 total bases in 2001 are the most in the majors since Stan Musial had 429 in 1948.

Verdict: He chased McGwire through their home run summers, and he can expect to follow Big Mac's lead on the unending waiting list.